On Writing

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    Young adult books then and now …

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    Note: This post will also appear tomorrow at Magical Musings.

    Several months ago, one of the ladies in my yoga class asked me about my young adult books, including Bright Blaze of Magic, the third and final book in my Black Blade young adult urban fantasy series.

    We started talking, along with the other ladies in class, and they mentioned something interesting — that their kids and teens in general these days just don’t seem to read the same books that their parents did. Specifically, that it seems like teens prefer to read fantasy books instead of the Nancy Drew mysteries and other classic books that their parents read when they were teens.

    The Secret of the Old ClockI keep thinking about this conversation because I loved reading Nancy Drew when I was growing up, and I specifically remember the cover shown at left. I read several different versions of Nancy Drew, and I also loved reading Trixie Belden, Sweet Valley High, the Baby-Sitters Club, and just about any other book/series I could get my hands on. I checked them all out from the library and read and re-read them time and time again.

    Looking back, it seems like I read more mysteries and contemporary books when I was young. I don’t remember reading a lot of fantasy books until I was in high school. That’s when I discovered authors like Terry Brooks and David Eddings.

    But once I started reading fantasy, I fell in love with the genre. I just loved all the fantasy books with all these characters going on these epic adventures and trying to save their kingdom, world, etc. from the bad guys. I like to read books with a little bit of everything in them, and to me, fantasy books were the perfect combination of action, adventure, magic, danger, and romance. And they still are today. Discovering fantasy books when I was a teen is probably one of the reasons why I write fantasy books today.

    Oh, I still read mysteries, romances, westerns, spy thrillers, and more, but fantasy books definitely hold a special place in my heart. And the more I think about it, the more I think that my yoga ladies are right. Just browsing through the young adult section at my local bookstores, it seems like most of the young adult books are fantasy books. And it seems like most of the big books that all the book blogs are talking about are often young adult epic fantasy books.

    So why is that? I think that maybe as teens get older and start becoming more independent, that they want to read about characters who are doing the same — folks who leave the safety of their homes/towns behind, go on these epic adventures, and use their magic for the greater good. I think there’s something that’s universally appealing about that, no matter how old you are, but that it really resonates with folks when they are in their teens and trying to figure out who they are and what they want to do in life.

    What do you guys think? Do the teens that you know prefer to read fantasy books? Or do they read a wide variety of books?

    Bright Blaze of Magic finalBright Blaze of Magic is out now. You can order the book at all the usual sites, including the following:

    Amazon Kindle / Amazon print / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / Google Play / iBooks / IndieBound / Kobo

    The audiobook is available through Audible and Amazon, and Brittany Pressley is once again be the narrator.

    And here is the book description:

    BAD THINGS ALWAYS COME IN THREES…

    As a thief, I’m good at three things: hiding in the shadows, getting in and out unseen, and uncovering secrets. I put these skills to work for the Sinclair Family, one of the magical mobs that run the tourist town of Cloudburst Falls.

    Everyone knows Victor Draconi wants to take over all the other Families—and kill every last Sinclair. What they don’t know is that I’m on to him, and no way will I let the man who murdered my mom get away with hurting all the other people I care about. Especially when I’ve got places to break into, stuff to steal, and Devon Sinclair fighting right by my side…

    I hope that everyone enjoys the book. Happy reading! 🙂

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    Unraveled, Elemental Assassin #15, up for pre-order …

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    Book #15Unraveled, book #15 in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, will be released on Aug. 30.

    The book will be available in print, e-book, and audiobook formats from all the usual retailers. It is up for pre-order at the following sites:

    Amazon Kindle / Amazon print / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / Google Play / iBooks / IndieBound / Kobo

    The audiobook will be available through Audible and Amazon, and Lauren Fortgang will once again be the narrator. The audiobook pre-order links will be going up closer to the release date, probably sometime in mid-July.

    Here is the Unraveled description. This contains some spoilers from Bitter Bite, book #14. So if you haven’t read that far in the series yet, you may want to avoid reading the description below.

    What could go wrong when you’re trying to unravel a decades-old conspiracy? 

    As the current queen of the Ashland underworld, you would think that I, Gin Blanco, would know all about some secret society controlling things from behind the scenes. I might be the Spider, the city’s most fearsome assassin, but all my Ice and Stone elemental magic hasn’t done me a lick of good in learning more about “the Circle”. Despite my continued investigations, the trail’s gone as cold as the coming winter.

    So when Finnegan Lane, my foster brother, gets word of a surprising inheritance, we figure why not skip town for someplace less dangerous for a few days? That place: Bullet Pointe, a fancy hotel resort complex plus Old West theme park that Finn now owns lock, stock, and barrel. At first, all the struttin’ cowboys and sassy saloon girls are just hokey fun. But add in some shady coincidences and Circle assassins lurking all around, and vacationing becomes wilder—and deadlier—than any of us expected.

    Good thing this assassin brought plenty of knives to the gunfight …

    I’ve always wanted to write a western, and part of Unraveled, book #15, Aug. 30, takes place in an Old West theme park. So the book is my take on a western, Spider-style, of course, with Gin facing down some evil cowboys, among other bad guys. 🙂

    You can read the first chapter of Unraveled by going here. Scroll down, and click on the Read Excerpt tab.

    I hope that everyone enjoys the book when it is released.

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    Unwanted, Elemental Assassin #14.5 e-novella, up for pre-order …

    E-Novella #14.5Unwanted, e-novella #14.5 in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, will be released on July 18.

    And here is a look at the cover art.

    Unwanted is an e-novella that takes place after the events of Bitter Bite, book #14. It is told from the point of view of Finnegan Lane, Gin’s foster brother. If you’ve read Bitter Bite, then you know that Finn definitely needed his own story after everything that happened in that book. And a hug. 🙂

    Unwanted is about 20,000 words — around 75 pages — and will be available as an e-novella only. There will not be any print or audiobook versions at this time.

    Unwanted is priced at $1.99, and it is up for pre-order at the following sites:

    Amazon Kindle / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / Google Play / iBooks / Kobo

    And here is the e-novella description. This contains major spoilers for Bitter Bite. So if you absolutely do not want to be spoiled, skip reading the e-novella description.

    The New York Times bestselling Elemental Assassin series continues with a new e-novella—from the point of view of Finnegan Lane, the foster brother of Gin Blanco, and a fan favorite of readers of the series.

    The fallout from his disastrous “family reunion” in Bitter Bite has left Finn feeling hurt, angry, and depressed. He can barely stand to look at himself in the mirror, much less eat any of the delicious barbecue from Gin’s famed Pork Pit restaurant.

    But when the funeral for a slain security guard at his bank turns into a showdown with some nasty underworld giants, Finn knows that he must act in order to protect an innocent family.

    Finnegan Lane might be the most unwanted man in Ashland these days, but he’s determined to try to make amends for his past mistakes…

    You can read an excerpt from the e-novella here. Scroll down, and click on the Read Excerpt tab.

    I hope that everyone enjoys the e-novella when it is released. Happy reading!

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    Updated: Jennifer’s release schedule for 2016 …

    Today, I wanted to update my book release schedule for the rest of 2016 and into early 2017:

    Bitter Bite — Elemental Assassin #14 — out now.

    Bright Blaze of Magic — Black Blade #3 — out now. As of right now, this is the final book in the trilogy/series.

    Unwanted finalUnwanted — Elemental Assassin #14.5 — July 18. This is an e-novella from Finnegan Lane’s point of view that takes place after the events of Bitter Bite. If you’ve read that book, then you know that Finn really needed his own story after everything that happened. And a hug. 🙂

    Unwanted is about 20,000 words — around 75 pages — and will be priced at $1.99. It will be available as an e-novella only. There will not be any print or audiobook versions at this time.

    Unraveled — Elemental Assassin #15 — Aug. 30. This will be a full-length book.

    Nice Guys Bite — Elemental Assassin #15.5 — Dec. 12. This is an e-novella from Silvio Sanchez’s point of view that takes place after the events of Unraveled.

    It’s about 20,000 words — around 75 pages — and will be priced at $1.99. It will be available as an e-novella only. There will not be any print or audiobook versions at this time.

    Snared — Elemental Assassin #16 — Jan. 31, 2017. This will be a full-length book.

    So there is lots of good stuff ahead for the rest of 2016.

    As far as my young adult books go, I’m mulling over some ideas for a new series, including one for an epic fantasy young adult series. At some point, I will also probably be doing some Mythos Academy spinoff books (featuring Rory, Gwen’s cousin from Midnight Frost and Killer Frost), but we’ll see what happens.

    Unfortunately, I don’t have any plans to write any more Bigtime books or e-novellas at this time. As you guys can see, my writing schedule is already full going into 2017. I’d love to write more of those stories, but I self-publish that series, which is very time-consuming. It’s just hard to fit it in with the rest of my writing commitments. But I do hope to go back to the series someday.

    I hope that everyone enjoys the books and e-novellas as they are released. Happy reading!

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    Free Comic Book Day — and keeping movies and books fresh …

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    Mountain Empire ComicsNote: This post will also appear today on Magical Musings.

    If you follow me on social media, you know that I love, love, love superheroes. So, naturally, Free Comic Book Day is one of my favorite days of the year. 🙂

    Free Comic Book Day is always held the first Saturday in May — May 7, this year. During that day, comic book stores across the country and world give away free comics, host costume contests, and much, much more. As part of Free Comic Book Day, I will be signing books starting at 10 a.m. and going until noon (or maybe even a little later, depending on the crowd) at Mountain Empire Comics in Bristol, Tenn. The store will be giving away free comics, and the street will be closed off for all kinds of vendors.

    So why is Free Comic Book Day one of my favorite days of the year? Because not only do I get to sign books, but I also get to hang out at the comic book store and talk about all things related to superheroes, along with fantasy books, movies, TV shows, and more. This year, I expect much of the talk to be about Marvel’s newest superhero movie, Captain America: Civil War, which opens on Friday, May 6.

    As an author and a reader, I’ve seen tons of blog posts and articles about how to keep a long-running book series fresh and interesting, not only for fans of the series but for the author writing it too. I think that Marvel does an excellent job of this when it comes to their superhero movies.

    Captain AmericaI’ve seen several articles and comments from Marvel filmmakers talking about how all of their movies are superhero movies, but how they all explore different ideas and genres, which helps keep them fresh and interesting for the audience, actors, and filmmakers. For example, Captain America: The First Avenger is a World War II movie. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a political thriller. Guardians of the Galaxy is a space adventure. Ant-Man is a heist movie. And so on and so forth.

    I find myself doing the same thing when it comes to my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series. Each book is an assassin story at heart, but the books also contain elements from other genres besides urban fantasy.

    One of the reasons that I started writing about my assassin heroine, Gin Blanco, was because I thought that there were so many different stories that you could tell with an assassin character. So far, 14 books have been published in my Elemental Assassin series, along with several e-novellas and short stories.

    Book #15The more books I write in the series, the more I think about incorporating elements from other genres. For example, I’ve always wanted to write a western, and part of Unraveled, book #15, Aug. 30, takes place in an Old West theme park. So the book is my take on a western, with Gin facing down some evil cowboys, among other bad guys.

    I’ve also always wanted to write a spy thriller and a heist book, among other stories, and I think that Gin would be the perfect character to help me explore those genres. Hopefully, readers will enjoy seeing my nods to other genres in my books.

    Who knows? Maybe my Elemental Assassin series will be like the Marvel movies and just keep going and going and going … 🙂

    What about you guys? What are some of your favorite book and superhero series and movies?